Random World's Most Interesting Unfinished Buildings (12 items)

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  (#1) Sagrada Família

  • Barcelona, Spain

  The first stone of this massive church was laid in 1882, and construction is still marching on today. The Sagrada Família is set to be completed in 2026, with all of the construction costs financed by donations and ticket sales. Tours of the basilica are a popular activity when visiting Barcelona, Spain, and visitors are encouraged to spend time taking a close look at the facade to search for the cleverly hidden Biblical images. 

  Architect Antoni Gaudí took over the planning of the Gothic-style church in 1883, the second year of its construction. From there, it became his life's work, until he passed away in 1926. The original plans have been used during the entire process; although some assumptions have been made along the way, since the plans have been slightly damaged over the many, many decades it has taken to complete the church.
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  (#2) Winchester Mystery House

  • North America

  Pure paranoia has never looked so beautiful. In the mid 1800s, Sarah Winchester, wife of rifle manufacturer William Wirt Winchester, turned to spirituality to cope with the deaths of her husband and and infant daughter. A medium told her that the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles were responsible for their deaths, and, in order to avoid a similar fate, she needed to move out West and begin building a grand house for them. As long as the house was never fully completed, she would be safe.

  The house, located in San Jose, California, began being constructed in 1884. The workers did not stop adding strange and mostly unnecessary details and additions until 1922, when Sarah passed away.

  The beautiful Victorian-style Winchester Mystery House is a museum today, where visitors can go on a tour through the extremely quirky layout. There are secret passageways, staircases to nowhere, and oddly-shaped rooms built in an attempt to throw off the spirits.
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  (#3) Woodchester Mansion

  • United Kingdom

  The Woodchester Mansion in Woodchester, England, is a bit of a trickster; from the outside, it almost looks like a regular, old mansion. But once you get inside, it becomes clear that construction was never completed. Construction on the Victorian-Gothic house began in 1855 and continued until 1873. It was made using local limestone, with vaulted stone ceilings that were unique for that time period. 

  Because the house is still missing floors, it allows visitors to actually see how houses were constructed during that time. Construction eventually ceased due to lack of funds – more specifically, a lack of the yearly income that the owner would have needed to actually run the place.

  In spite of the fact that it was never finished, it still has a lot of beautiful details, especially in the chapel and on the facade.
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  (#4) Ta Keo

  Tha Angkor Temples of Cambodia are a World Heritage Site and a significant part of Cambodian history. Ta Keo Temple is one of the main temples you can visit when you purchase a "Temple Pass," but it was never finished. It is also the only temple made entirely of sandstone.

  Due to political instability at the time (around 1001 CE), construction was stopped before it reached the decoration phase. Most other temples built at the time (including Ta Keo's spectacular neighbor, Angkor Wat) were given detailed and beautiful carvings, statues, and other adornments that were centered around the Hindu faith. 

  Ta Keo is a bare-bones structure, still consisting of multiple spires and levels but without any of the other trappings. Tourists are free to wander about inside if they are brave enough to make it up the extremely steep temple staircases. 
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  (#5) Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

  • New York City, New York, USA

  Although the Cathedral of Saint John the Devine is still incomplete, it is a fully functioning Episcopal church. The cornerstone was laid in 1892, and construction on the mixed influence Gothic-Romanesque behemoth continued at a steady pace until WWII. 

  Some cheeky estimates in the 1920s suggested construction would be finished in 700 years, but it looks like that might never happen. Most of the work done over the course of the 20th century was restorative; even the "temporary" dome ceiling remains, despite plans to replace it with a spire. Still, the building is open, and hosts services every Sunday. 
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  (#6) National Monument of Scotland

  • Edinburgh, Scotland

  A Scottish attempt at grandeur failed spectacularly. The National Monument, known to locals as "Edinburgh's Disgrace," was meant to be a structure honoring the fallen Scotsmen in the Napoleonic Wars, which took place from 1803-1815. Based on the Parthenon, the monument would have made Edinburgh the "Athens of the North." Unfortunately, only about 1/3 of the necessary funds for the project were raised, and the whole thing had to be abandoned in the 1820s. Today, locals and tourists alike can be seen climbing around in the ruins, which consist of just the foundation stone and the 12 regal columns.
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  (#7) The Palace Of The Soviets, An Impossible Dream

  Russian architectual ambition was a sight to behold in the 1930s. At the time, Moscow was somewhat of a hub for modern architecture, so the design for the epic Palace of the Soviets was destined to be a modernist marvel.

  A design contest for the Palace was held in 1931, and work began in 1938. The plans were extremely extravagant – nothing like it had ever been seen. It was to be so tall it reached the clouds, with a 328-foot-high statue of Vladimir Lenin at the top, scraping the sky. According to The Daily Beast, "[it] was also to have 148 elevators and 62 escalators... there would also be a library with 500,000 books." 

  As with many building projects around the world from the period, WWII disrupted Russia's grand plan. The plan was eventually fully scrapped in 1957 after only the foundation had been laid. The site became a large public pool, and, today, the world's tallest Orthodox Christian church sits where it would have been.
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  (#8) Ryugyong Hotel

  • Pyongyang, Pyongan, North Korea

  The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, has an air of mystery to it. The massive hotel (boasting 105 floors) was meant to be the largest in the world, but it has yet to open its doors to guests. In spite of this, there have been rumors that people have seen lights on in the top of the pyramid.

  Construction on the hotel began in 1987 and continued until 1992, when famine, drought, and an economic crisis crippled the nation. Work resumed in 2008, but the date of completion is anybody's guess.

  The builders got a cash boost of $30 million from Egyptian investors in 2011 to finish the exterior, very fitting for the pyramid structure.
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  (#9) Sinn Sathorn Tower

  • Bangkok, Thailand

  A victim of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the Sathorn Unique Tower in Bangkok, Thailand, sits as a massive reminder of what could have been. Somehow, the building is still beautiful in its own way, with layers upon layers of scalloped balconies that would have hosted wealthy travelers.

  Although from the outside it appears almost normal (it was about 75% completed), once you look closer, you can see that a lot of interior structures are missing, and the floors were left very open.

  It's a popular spot today for urban explorers; although it does have a high level of security. The local ghost stories also tend to deter some people, but most don't appear to be daunted by the spooky claims. 
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  (#10) Deutsches Stadion

  • Germany

  The Deutsches Stadion, which began construction in 1937, was one of Adolf Hitler's biggest projects. It was to be located in Nuremberg, Germany, and should have held around 400,000 spectators.

  When told that the dimensions of the facility did not match Olympic standards, Hitler was said to have replied: "That's totally unimportant. The 1940 Olympics will be taking place in Tokyo. But after that they will be held for all eternity in Germany – and in this stadium. And it is we who will determine how the sporting field is measured."

  The project came to an abrupt halt in 1938 due to the start of WWII, and the only part that was ever completed was the giant hole in the ground where it should have sat. There was, however, a "test stadium" built in a small town not far from Nuremberg, Achtel, to test the acoustics. The old pillars and walls that remain have been given historical landmark status, though they are long overgrown, and some Germans would like to forget they are there.

  You can also visit the hole where the stadium would have gone, which is now known locally as Silbersee Lake.
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  (#11) Szkieletor

  • Poland

  The official name of this building in Krakow, Poland, building is NOT Tower, but it has been become known as Szkieletor. That makes sense; Szkieletor is the Polish word for skeleton, and the building has never been much more than that.

  Construction began in 1975 and was brought to a halt in 1979. The building has stood empty ever since, rooms that were meant to be offices and TV studios left completely bare. It has changed owners several times over the years, with all of them doing nothing to the structure but using the 22-story frame to hang massive advertisements.

  For avid explorers, this one comes with a bit of a time limit. Different sources say that the building has been purchased by a new owner and will most likely be refurbished or demolished very soon.
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  (#12) Plaza Rakyat

  • Malaysia

  Plaza Rakyat, known as the People's Plaza in English, is a mixed-use building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was one of many buildings to suffer abandonment after the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.

  Work slowed and then ceased fully in 2007, but construction is actually set to resume in June 2017. For the urban adventurers, that means exploring this one in its unfinished form is a race against time. Although many of the magnificent-but-unfinished buildings around the globe claim to be resuming their efforts, the team working on this one has actively begun to reach out to the former investors who have waited 20 years to see their dreams become reality. 

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